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Welcome to Platypus Pens

3D-printed fountain pens

Comfort and style

The hand that wrote made these pens

Model 1 pens have #5 sized Jowo nibs. The pens post deeply and securely.

Colours and patterns

Just some of the colours

PLA plastic is available with a dazzling range of colours and the pens come in several different surface patterns

Four models

Model 10 pens have #6 sized nibs (Jowo #6 or Bock 250).



About the pens

The pen is almost entirely 3d-printed in fine layers arranged to reflect light from almost any angle and produce a glistening, shining pen that stands out from the pack of commonplace smooth-bodied injection moulded or turned pens.

  • Available in many different colours and colour combinations and eye-catching surface patterns.
  • Medium sized to fit into most hands. The section is luxuriously long, tapered, and micro-textured for grip and long writing comfort. (A larger model will be available soon.)
  • Jowo #5 nib (stainless steel) in a standard housing. Jowo is a major German manufacturer of high quality nibs and every nib is tested and adjusted if necessary, so there is no chance that your nib will not write well straight out of the box.
  • An International Standard cartridge converter is included with each full-sized pen for bottled ink. Pocket pens (Quokkas) are supplied with a mixed set of ink cartridges.
  • The cap unscrews in less than 2 turns and has an inner sealing step to reduce nib drying between uses. The cap can be deeply and securely posted onto the back of the pen during use without risk of making unsightly scratches on the body (except for the terracotta pens which should not be posted).
  • An eccentrically located weight acts like a roll-stop to reduce the chance that your pen will roll off your desk.

Construction

The pen is made from seven nesting components, 3d-printed from plastic with characteristics matching the functional requirements of each part.

  • The body and cap outer casings are made of boldly coloured, silky shining PLA plastic that looks and feels great. The plastic is hard and chemically resistant so that ink can be readily washed off with soapy water.
  • The cap liner is softer than the outer casings to minimise the risk of scratches when the pen is posted (i.e. when the cap is placed on the back of the pen while the pen is being used).
  • The section liner is made from a plastic that allows fine threads to be printed to engage the removable nib unit. The inner and outer portions of threads that join the section to the body are made of different plastics to prevent both wear and binding of the threads.
  • The inner and outer components of the body, the cap, and the section are all sandwiched together with marine epoxy for long-lasting strength and resilience.

Packaging

Platypus pens are not delivered in a plastic sleeve within a presentation box within a cardboard box within… Instead, your Platypus pen comes in entirely recycled, re-used, or rescued packaging, most of it recyclable at your end. Any bubble wrap or equivalent padding is re-used from parcels delivered to us during lockdown, and cardboard is taken from those parcels or from filament boxes. Our attitude is that we are selling pens, not flashy boxes. We are confident that the pen will reach you in good condition, and if it is damaged in transit we will replace it. 

Nonetheless, if you are purchasing the pen as a gift or it you really want that special ‘unboxing experience’ then please let us know, as we can put the pen into shiny and fun 3D-printed spiral tubes. (At extra cost to you, of course.)

Purchasing a Platypus fountain pen

The Platypus fountain pens cost $150 for Model 1 and $170 for Model 10, plus postage. Those are Australian dollars and at the moment they equate to about US$110 and US$125, or €93 and €105, respectively.

To buy a pen you should send an email to the pen-maker, Michael Lew, using the ‘Contact Us’ page via the menu at the top of this page.

Platypus fountain pens are mostly made to order, which takes about three days (assuming that there is no wait list), but there is usually a small number of ready-made pens available. Ask by email about the colours and patterns.

Payment is via a Paypal invoice that will be sent once the pen is ready, and that invoice can be paid via credit or debit card or, if you have a PayPal account, directly using PayPal. If you prefer to use a direct deposit (“e-transfer”) then that can be arranged.



About Us

Platypus Pens is a one-man show run by Michael Lew, a retired university senior lecturer.

Want to purchase a pen?
Or just get In Touch?

  • Use the contact us menu item at the top, or email PlatypusPens at fastmail dot com


Quokka: a platypus for your pocket

A pocket-sized fountain pen: small in the pocket and full sized in the hand. A new pocket pen from Platypus Pens: the Quokka. Quokka pens are small and cute and turn into full-sized pens when in use. Less than 10 cm long (less than 4 inches), they can slip easily into a pocket or purse…

The terracotta platypus

Platypus pens is now offering its pens constructed from a PLA filament that contains 50% terracotta (by weight). The pens look like they are made from terracotta, and feel like it too. Terracotta infused PLA filament makes a truly lovely pen, but it also offers a few disadvantages for the user and for the penmaker.…

The shapes of Platypus fountain pens

Platypus Model 1 and Model 10 pens have a shared distinctively elegant and simple shape. This blog post describes the shapes of those pen models and explains why they were chosen. The body and cap of both models have outlines that are formed almost entirely on the intersection between two circles. They consist of a…

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